Winterhawks blank Giants

Shane Farkas made 31 saves for his first-carer shutout and Ty Kolle broke a scoreless tie with 6:25 left as the Portland Winterhawks beat the Vancouver Giants 2-0 on Saturday in Langley, British Columbia.

Mason Mannek scored into an empty net with 53 seconds remaining to seal Portland's 17th road win of the Western Hockey League season.

It was a big character win for Portland, which was missing forwards Cody Glass, Kieffer Bellows and Ryan Hughes for the second night in a row.

The Winterhawks improved to 27-15-1-3, good for 58 points. They trail first-place Everett by two points in the U.S. Division.

Vancouver, which lost in regulation for the first time this month, is third in the B.C. Division at 25-15-4-3 for 57 points.

Farkas (6-4-0-0) made a couple of big stops in the third period, including on a point-blank rebound chance for the Giants' Matt Barberis shortly after the Winterhawks took a 1-0 lead.

The go-ahead goal was Kolle's fifth of the season. Dennis Cholowski, playing in his hometown, took a shot from the right point that Giants' goalie David Tendeck kicked away. With traffic in front of the Giants' net, Kolle found the loose puck in the high slot and quickly threw a back-hand shot through bodies into the goal.

Vancouver, which outshot Portland 31-27, pushed for the answer. The Giants pulled Tendeck for an extra attacker, but didn't generate any first-rate chances before Mannek swung a back-hander from the right-wing boards into the empty net.

Portland was 0 for 1 on the power play and killed off three Vancouver power plays.

Saturday's game was the 1,500th road game in Winterhawks history.

The Winterhawks return home to play host to Brandon at 5 p.m. on Sunday at Moda Center. The Wheat Kings feature former Winterhawks forward Evan Weinger.

Glass and Bellows have undisclosed injuries and Hughes is ill. Their status for Sunday's game remains uncertain.